As the value and use of information continues to increase, individuals and businesses seek additional ways to process and store information. One option available to users is information handling systems. An information handling system generally processes, compiles, stores, and/or communicates information or data for business, personal, or other purposes thereby allowing users to take advantage of the value of the information. Because technology and information handling needs and requirements vary between different users or applications, information handling systems may also vary regarding what information is handled, how the information is handled, how much information is processed, stored, or communicated, and how quickly and efficiently the information may be processed, stored, or communicated. The variations in information handling systems allow for information handling systems to be general or configured for a specific user or specific use such as financial transaction processing, airline reservations, enterprise data storage, or global communications. In addition, information handling systems may include a variety of hardware and software components that may be configured to process, store, and communicate information and may include one or more computer systems, data storage systems, and networking systems.
Some information handling systems are combined to form multiple processing components configured as part of a single system. A modular computing system is one example of such a system that is made up of a number of different information handling systems. A “modular computing system” as a general term is often used to refer to a system architecture that houses multiple server modules or blades in a single chassis. Modular computing systems are widely used, for example, in data centers to save space and improve system management. Either self-standing or rack mounted, a modular computing system chassis typically provides the power supply to the blades, and each blade typically has its own CPU, memory and hard disk. A “blade” as a general term is often used to refer to one component in a system that is designed to accept some number of components (referred to collectively as “blades”). Blades can be, for example, individual servers that plug into a single cabinet or chassis to form a modular computing system, or blades can be individual port cards that add connectivity to a switch. Passthrough modules and CMCs (chassis management controllers) are also often utilized along with blades as part of a modular computing system.
In modular computing systems, it is desirable to provide effective communications among the blades, the passthrough modules (PTMs) and chassis management controllers (CMCs). These communications, for example, can be implemented using dedicated low level signal pins. An efficient, robust solution, however, is needed. In addition, hot-swapping of blades will often create data integrity problems as blades are inserted into and removed from the modular computing system. In addition, low latency is desirable so that the blades, PTMs and CMCs do not have to wait unnecessarily for other systems in order to communicate. Similar communication requirements may also exist for other systems that include a plurality of information handling systems that need to communicate with each other through a communication bus.